Door releaser and starter.



o. 788,977. PATENTED MAY 2, 1905.

G. WIDEMAN.

DOOR RBLEASBR AND STARTER.

LPPLIOATION FILED JULY 25, 1904` WHW' d WMQI 7%. 4

UNITED STATES Patented May 2, 1905.

PATENT OEETCE.

GUSTAVUS VIDEMAN, OF AURORA, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE RICH- ARDS MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF AURORA, ILLINOIS, A COR- PORATION OF ILLINOIS.

DOOR RELEASER AND STARTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 788,977, dated May 2, 1905.

Application filed July 25, 1904:. Serial No. 218,125.

To a/ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, GUs'rAvUs WIDEMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Aurora, in the county of Kane and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Door Releasers and Starters, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to latches or devices for holding, releasing, and starting slidable doors, especially of that style that is adapted to be set in operation by the breaking out of a lire in proximity to the door to which the device is applied.

The particular object sought by my invention is to provide a latch that will not only hold the door open under normal conditions and release the door so that it will operate through the action of gravity, but will also start the door to moving or closing, thus facilitating' the action of gravity and invariably insuring its closing.

The device hereinafter described in detail consists generally of a bracket, a slidable spring-operated latch, a chain or cord connected with the latch and holding it normally against the tension of the spring, a fusible link connected with the chain or holding-cord, and a bolt which engages the latch and a keeper on thc door and acts in connection with the latch as a door-starter.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a view in elevation of a door hung on a suitable track and a doorway adapted to be covered by the door and my holding and starting device applied thereto. Fig. 2is a perspective view, on a large scale, of the latch; and Fig.

3 is a fragmentary View, partially in section, y

showing the lower part of the latch with the bolt out of operative position.

Referring to the drawings in detail, A represents asliding door made of sheet metal in the usual form and adapted to cover or close the doorway A. The door is hung by suitable hangers B on a track C, which is suspended from brackets c', so that there is an incline to the track toward the doorway, whereby the door if not secured in its open position will through gravity slide'over the doorway.

Attached to the front edge of the door is a hook-shaped keeper j.

Secured to the door jamb or frame I on the left side of the doorway, as shown in Fig. l, is a bracket c, composed of a metal strap provided with suitable screw-holes for attaching it in place and having its ,upper end bent at right angles to form a horizontal extension c and its lower end bent to form an extension e2. Mounted in a suitable opening in the extension c is a rod t, to the lower end of which is s'ecured the latch proper, which consists of the fiat strap or plate g and the angularly bent and inclined plate g, one end of which is rigidly secured to the strap g and the lower end of which is bent up to form a hook g4. The rod It passes through a suitable opening in the upper portion of the plate g/ and has a nut 71,2 secured to its lower and threaded end. Surrounding the rod between the horizontal portion of the plate g and the extension c of the strap e is a coil-spring It', which in its eXpansive action tends to push downwardly the latch. The lower portion of the strap c is bent up at right angles to form a foot, as e2, through which an opening c3 is cut to permit the downward movement of the latchplate g, as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Near the lower end of the inclined portion of the latch-plate g it is riveted to the plate g, as shown in Fig. 3. The bolt c' is connected by the chain vl z' to the hook gf. The holdingchain if is connected to the upper end of the rod /L and passes over a pulley f, secured in .A

the upper corner of the doorway, and is connected with the fusible link its, which in turn is connected to a hook d, secured at or near the center of the archway of the door.

In the use of my improved device the holding-chain 7b2 is drawn so as to pull up the rod /i as far as possible, thus compressing the spring L to its full limit. The bolt c' is then placed across the hook g4 and the keeper j' on the edge of the door, the latter being open, as indicated in Fig. 2. It will be apparent that upon the chain 7a2 being released through the fusing of kthe link h3 the spring h will have a chance to expand and in so doing will press the latch downwardly and in so doing will cause the inclined portion g to press outwardly against the bolt e', and the pressure will be communicated through said bolt to the keeper j', thereby starting the door toward its closed position. The continued downward movement of the latch will force the bolt out of the hook gi and also out of the keeper y', as will be readily understood, so that the further movement of the door through the action of gravity will be unobstructed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to obtain by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a device of the class described, a supporting-bracket, a latch slidably mounted on the bracket and comprising a hook and an inclined portion, a bolt supported by said hook, a spring adapted to operate said latch, and means for holding said spring in inoperative position said means comprising a fusible element, for the purpose set forth.

2. In a device of the class described, a supporting-bracket, a latch slidably mounted on the bracket and comprising a plate bent to form a hook and an inclined portion, a bolt supported by said hook, a spring adapted to operate said latch, and means for holding said spring in inoperative position, said means comprising a fusible element.

3. In a device of the class described, a supsubstantially as described, a rod connected to said latch and slidably mounted in said bracket, a spring adapted to hold said latch in inoperative position, and means for holding said spring in inoperative position, said spring comprising a fusible link.

5. In a device of the class described, the bracket e, a latch slidably mounted on said bracket and comprising the hook g4 and the inclined portion g' integrally formed, the rod h slidably mounted on the bracket, the spring la adapted to depress said latch, a bolt loosely supported by said latch and adapted to engage said hook, means for holding the spring in inoperative position and means for releasing said holding means.

6. In a device of the class described, a bracket adapted to be secured to a door-frame, a latch slidably mounted on said bracket, a bolt loosely supported on said latch and projecting at right angles to the bracket, means for projecting said latch, means for retracting said latch and means for holding it in its retracted position, said means including a fusible element, said bracket and latch adapted to automatically throw off the bolt upon the projection of the latch.

7. In combination with a slidable door having a keeper secured thereon, holding and releasing means secured to the door-frame and consisting of a supporting-plate e, a latching element having an inclined wall and slidably mounted on said plate, a spring adapted to 

